Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We will. I am proud to be a signatory to this motion, which unites Opposition Members on the absolute and immediate need to reopen day and other essential disability services. There is also a need to provide additional funding that is required to guarantee sustainable capacity within disability and dementia services. I thank Sinn Féin for facilitating this motion.

I listened to the Minister of State and know she is genuine in the efforts she makes. She reminded us that when she took office, all services were closed. I recognise that everything cannot be done at once. However, we all know these are unprecedented times and unprecedented actions need to be taken. Resources need to be put in place to support the most vulnerable in our society. We all know that Covid-19 has been especially harsh on people with disabilities and their carers. The Minister of State and the Government, therefore, have a responsibility to deliver in the upcoming budget. I know that there are competing demands and that both Ministers of State, Deputies Rabbitte and Butler, will fight for this sector but the response of the Government will tell us a great deal about how we value people with disabilities and their carers.

Some €10 million has been allocated to date. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, spoke of the €20 million that was saved because the 1% levy was scrapped. What in God's name does it say about our State that we were looking for 1% efficiency from a voluntary sector that, before the arrival of Covid-19, was stretched beyond its means? The sector relies partly on fundraising and wholly on volunteers and voluntary boards. Its staff, as section 39 workers, are still in 2009 and 2010 pay scales and most of them do not receive increments. I know that the Minister of State is not personally responsible for this, but to look for a 1% cut in the first place was scandalous.

I know that the €10 million was fought for hard but the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers was shocked at that amount. Inclusion Ireland recognised that it was a fraction of what is needed. As the Ministers of State will be aware, Family Carers Ireland today launched The State of Caring 2020 report dealing with pre-Covid times, and another report, Caring Through Covid: Life in Lockdown, was published previously. The two reports should be required reading for every person in this House. More than that, they should inform decisions taken in the upcoming budget.

The reports make harrowing reading in places. One carer described Covid as "a lockdown within a lockdown". Pre-Covid, 23% of carers had already seen a decrease in the level of services offered to their loved one in the past year and now 43% fear that normal services will not be restored after the pandemic. This does not surprise me because I remember reading the initial HSE guidelines on restoration of services, which referred to a reduced quantum of services. That kind of verbiage strikes fear into the hearts of family carers who have fought long and hard to get these day services up and running in the first place.

My time is limited but before I finish, I want to remember two tireless disability advocates who have died in the past few years and who taught me so much during my 15 years in the European Parliament. They are Donal Toolan, with his easy smile and razor-sharp intellect, and Martin Naughton, who took no prisoners. Those two tireless advocates helped me to recognise that life for people with disabilities is not a dress rehearsal; it is their one and only life. We, in this House, have a duty to support them and their carers to live that life.

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